Vorshlag Motorsports Evo X MR Build (STU, TTB, One Lap?)
 

Hey guys,
Some might know us, some might not. Allow me to give a brief introduction. We've been designing and building camber plates for BMWs since 2003 and have recently begun branching out into designing plates for Evos (8/9/10), Subaru, Minis, Mustangs and more as our customers buy different vehicles. We have camber plates on the street still running with original bearings in prototype plates from 2003. They are extremely overbuilt.

Pre-production plates built for Mark Berry's F Prepared Beast
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...14_4zpDv-S.jpg

We're also the importer for AST Suspension (The Netherlands). AST builds single, double and triple adjustable dampers that are designed for street, track, and endurance racing. Importing them also means we are the rebuild/revalve center for AST Stateside. Need something custom and we do it here in Texas. Again, we're primarily a suspension manufacturer. You won't see any big turbos, exhaust etc. coming from us. We either make it ourselves or partner with other companies as we go. And if you have a favorite shop, ask for us. We sell through a dealer network as well.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/1...46_E8Qvs-S.jpg

Mainly what I wanted to talk about was our new toy, an Evo X MR. We're in the DFW area so naturally you head to Don Herring. We met with Don Jr. and got the ball rolling purchasing a WW '08 Evo X MR. Why the MR? Well, if you read the build on our site, you'll see what we're trying to build, the ultimate multi-purpose car. Street, track, autocross, you name it and we'll do it. If you haven't met Don Herring Jr. you need to. He supports the local community more than any dealer I've ever met. In fact, he had a Ralliart release party Saturday that was great and sponsors local track and autocross events. Thanks Don!

First test prior to our first find, the now infamous "SLOW DOWN" on the dash.
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...17_8tFjY-S.jpg

So far we've designed the camber plates, prototypes are in production. AST has shipped the first set of AST 4200s (double adjustable, no reservoir, great for NASA TT rules). Two weekends at ECR showed some serious camber loss and body roll. We'll fix both shortly. We'll be testing the new setup at Motor Sport Ranch or ECR this month when AST comes in town to test 5 new models we're releasing.

We're building our own 3" cat back for now and ditching the factory battery for a DEKA. The Evo needs a diet! We're searching for light 18x10s for the 275s we'll run in NASA Time Trials. They might end up being CCWs at this point. Cobb Tuning downloaded the MR code off our car and is testing their programming against the MR. They found the GT-R's semi-automatic required special attention during shifts so they'll do the same careful testing with the SST.

The car will primarily run in NASA TT-B (moving to TT-A eventually) and SCCA's STU autocross class. We're hopeful we can make One Lap as well with the car. We'll probably take it along with our LS1 powered BMW for GRM's UTCC at VIR next year.

Thanks for listening. The full write up is in our forum and has a GSR we weighed, the MR's weight, wheel weights for both cars as a comparison and our tranny cooler fan mod.

http://vorshlag.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6369

More pics as well.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/...98596230_TKc7d

Brian and AST/Vorshlag are good guys, Glad you finally got on here.

Ryan


Edit: And the AST doubles Rock, simply incredible they can make a shock that good for a price I can afford {thumbup}

Good luck with the car, and good luck with the NASA events, will be cool to see another X out there!

Ryan

And you're the reason TT-B looks so good. :) If you guys haven't seen Ryan's drive that Evo, it's a treat. He was turning lap times consistent with 2400 lb, 300 whp BMWs in GTS 5. Pretty amazing. Great job btw.

Very nice. Have fun out there.

The car looks great! Good luck out there.

do one lap. the more mid-price sedan competition the better.

luke

Neat. It'll be interesting to see how the X compares in STU.

We have the fortune of being able to rent Mineral Wells (60 acres of asphalt). In past years we've tested E36 M3s, E46 M3s, Evo 9, and '05 STI using data acquisition equipment so we'll have those as baselines. Andy Hollis usually comes with his skills and national championship car so we have a good car to test against with street tires. Now we have Mark Berry in his FP car to run against our XP BMW as well.

The site is so big we setup a 200' skidpad, 11 cone slalom, 30s course, and a practice oval. Usually we run the test in late January but that happens to be a NASA weekend next year. Have to get it in sometime though.

The MR transmission could offer a huge advantage in tight autocrosses where you wouldn't downshift to first normally. We're excited to give it a try. The weight? Not so much of an advantage. haha

I've been running N-STU all year. So far my car is not really competitive here in Dallas (where STU is SUPER competitive), but it's not the car's fault. It's all driver. When a better driver jumps in and shaves 4 seconds off my best time (on a 89 second course), the first time he sits in my car, you know it's all driver :D

Who was that?

Jeremy Foley

Datalog from that sad day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiW8P4-z9DM

My codriver and I met Terry Fair and his wife at Nats this year. Def cool people. They brought several sets of AST's for a couple friends of ours.

AST and Vorshlag does great stuff. Good to see you guys over here. :)


- Andrew (from RCE)

Update: Transmission Cooling Fan Mod

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...41_pryjG-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...29_kbqnh-S.jpg

After the first "baseline stock" track outing (ECR, Oct 11, 2008) in a new 2008 EVO X "MR" we noted that after 2-3 hard laps the transmission would overheat during each 20 minute session. This was with a totally stock suspension and drivetrain - so why didn't any of the million magazine articles praising the EVO X's flappy paddle semi-automatic "DSG" style transmission mention this after their many on-track tests? Well apparently it only happens when 1) driven harder the most automotive journalists can muster (yes, that was a jab!) and 2) when drivers employ Left Foot Braking. But ... with no clutch pedal, what sane racing driver wouldn't use LFB on track? That's one of the big pluses of these 2 pedal transmissions - the ability to let each pedal have its own foot. Colin McRae said it best about LFB use (video).

We soon found out from talking to a local Mitsubishi dealer (big props to Don Herring!) that when the brake pedal is even lightly pressed ("covering the pedal", which is what you do when you are using a Left Foot Braking technique) the clutch is semi-disengaged... allowing for clutch slip and potential transmission overheating. One automotive journalist did in fact have this happen during the press testing barrage, but it was overlooked. Well, Hanchey track drove the car like it should be driven - using LFB technique. That could have caused some of the overheating problem, but we wanted to improve transmission cooling just in case it reared its head again at the next track event (less than 5 days after the first event was run) or at the next autocross, where he WOULD be using LFB, by damn. What's the point of buying a $40K performance car if you have to drive it like Mr. Magoo??

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...22_7SunX-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...30_TKc7d-S.jpg
L: EVO X with fog lights covering up the oil coolers. R: Fog light housings removed and coolers exposed to more airflow!

The EVO X "MR" models' trans overheating woes are well known on the interweb with track drivers already, and even acknowledged by Mitsubishi dealers and Mitsu corporate. They promote the Super Sport transmission mode "for track use" but didn't quite get the cooling right on their first iteration (and even had a production halt in February on the MR to address this). We aimed to improve that instead of waiting for a "factory update".

So, after that initial track day where 3 hot laps was about the limit before "trans over temp...SLOW DOWN!" alarms would chime, we knew something had to be done to the cooling. There aren't a lot of solutions yet, so Hanchey decided to come up with his own.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...51_MRFtH-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...05_LP4k5-S.jpg

After a look at the shop manual he noted problems in the ducting and location of the SST transmission cooler, and thus where some of the problems probably stemmed from - insufficient air flow to cool the heat exchanger, which was buried behind a fog light assembly, a wonky looking air duct, and cooling air that exited into the left front wheel well. Brian suggested adding a cooling fan to the back of the cooler and I suggested removing the fog lights - in the end we did both.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...96_H8TzG-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...69_PNKR4-S.jpg

After Hanchey sourced a stout looking 5.2" diameter fan from Spal that was made for this type of use, we tore into the installation late one night at the shop. We thought we might be able to get away with a quick 30 minute install, but access to the front of the cooler was very limited, so off came the front bumper. I wanted an excuse to take a look under there for large lead weights or other ballast - something to explain this 3600 pound curb weight! - and we did indeed get to uncover a few things about the EVO X with a look under the skin.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...96_veWwg-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...84_B9iYd-S.jpg

The front bumper removal was the hardest part of this project, but a glance at the shop manual helped us track down the thirty or so fasteners that held the bumper cover and lower shrouds in place. Once it was off we could see that Hanchey had chosen the perfect size fan from Spal, and it went on with the included fasteners, plus a few washers and some rubber hose used to make a compliant seal between fan and heat exchanger. This was a "sucker" fan, so its mounted on the back side of the cooler. There was ample room to the fender liner to fit the fan in there, no worries.

Once the fan was in place, we removed both fog light assemblies. Good riddance to unnecessary bling - we don't have "fog" in Texas and their dead weight was covering up a good portion of two important oil coolers (engine and trans oil). We put together the wiring for the fan quickly. This included a relay and fuse for the higher current fan circuit, and a switch under the dash for the "low power" side of the relay. There was an unused 12V switched circuit in the factory fuse panel under the hood, right above the cooler & fan.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...19_o3cKu-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...27_UaYsk-S.jpg

Total costs: About $100 for all of the parts, about 2-3 hours of time (possibly more if you are not familiar with removing bodywork and doing 12 volt wiring).

Another open track event was run the following weekend (same track, same format, same ambient temps; BMW at ECR). This showed the results we wanted to see - ZERO trans temp problems and improved lap times. At the end of each 20 minute lapping session the new trans cooler fan was run for several minutes while the engine sat at idle, and heat was POURING out of the heat exchanger - so the fan was definitely moving some air, and helping.

I guess we can chalk this on up as a successful mod. Here's the step-by-step install guide picture gallery: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/6321704_Wm79c

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...05_kZWSM-M.jpg

We will go back and add a new/improved duct to the trans cooler (sheet aluminum), as well as make some protective mesh coverings for both fog light openings soon. I will update this thread when we add those final bits.

Cheers,

Update: First autocross write-up - the last event on stock suspension!

Amy and Terry (me) ran the EVO in its first autocross event last weekend at Le Grave Field in Ft. Worth, TX. Sure is easy to take this car to events - hop in, drive there, air up the front tires, and race! No tire swapping, no loading truck and trailer, just go - very nice compared to our normal load the truck + trailer + car +tools + trackside junk process.

The early cold temps warmed up considerably and we were borrowing water to spray the overheating Dunlop Star Specs on on the front after the 2nd runs (5 runs each w/ 2 drivers). The rears just barely got up to temp (55-60°F ambient). The stock suspensioned EVO X was a huge marshmallow but it was still two tons of fun to drive! The only mod on the car - the 245mm Dunlop Star Spec tires - was the biggest contributor to these DL-1 data logged numbers (98% percentile, not peaks):

Lateral Grip: 1.00g (left) / 1.04g (right)
Braking: 0.98 g
Accel: 0.60g

The numbers were still pretty good, considering the MASSIVE pitch, roll, drive and camber loss the under-sprung stock suspension allows. It was hilarious!

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4..._zqc2C-S-1.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4..._hb3jn-S-1.jpg
Look at the massive lean in Cornering!

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...69_ccAzm-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...11_mMrRM-S.jpg
Accel and Braking made for big pitch and dive!

It was like driving a big parade float... except it had a LOT of acceleration, good brakes, and the auto shifting S-Sport mode was FLAWLESS. The car would use 3rd and 1st gears where no other racers dared shift, and the data logging shows seamless acceleration during upshifts where our manually shifted cars always have a big dip in speed and acceleration. The SST magic is NOT A JOKE - this semi-automatic dual clutch business is the Real Thing. You never have to even THINK about shifting, don't even have to flick the paddles, you just mash the throttle and it is ALWAYS in the right gear. Amy and I were both Left Foot Braking everywhere, and it helped considerably.

The course had a heavy emphasis on slaloms (3), but the stock EVO gobbled them up with ease. The active yaw control system seems to actually work - you have to be somewhat violent with the wheel but it sticks better than you would think. There were some long sweeping corners that the car didn't like so much, due to the lean and camber loss, and we lost a lot of time there to other cars and classes we gauge by. The maximum 1.02 g avg lateral grip number is pretty low for STU cars on 140-200 treadwear tires, as we usually see 1.15-1.3g lateral in our prepped STU and STS cars. The braking numbers are OK, about what we saw in our STS prepped E30 and the old STU classed STI, but nothing like the 1.1g braking we saw in our STU E36 M3. Even with massive 2-piece rotors and Brembo calipers, you can't make up for that much dive.

The acceleration was pretty impressive, considering this thing is still bone stock and pushing 3600 pounds of puddin' around. The slower corner exits were helped dramatically by the SST's use of 1st gear. Due to a weird starting light placement that occurred in a braking zone right before a corner, far away from the actual starting line, we didn't mess with launch control as it would have been pointless.

With two driver's using LFB we assumed we might be adding extra heat to the transmission so the custom trans cooler fan was used between each run. With 2 drivers in a somewhat small run heat we were a bit pressed for time, but we did manage 4-5 minutes between drivers to swap numbers, spray the front tires, swap data cards for the DL-1, adjust the seat, and give the trans time to cool. It never had a single fault or overtemp warning, so that problem seems to be licked, even with heavy LFB use. Glad we had removed the fog lights and housings, as another EVO X driver attested to their fragility - one cone and POW they're gone (mounting tabs on the housings can break easily). We will not have that problem, of course. Although Amy did have some cone issues...

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...53_79vTx-M.jpg
The car is very wide, much wider than her M3, and she took a few runs to gauge the corners of the EVO

As you can see the other, prepped STU cars didn't have as much lean or dive, but they were already on stiffer aftermarket suspensions.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...75_Poish-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...80_mDZE6-S.jpg
L: Jason in Paul's 2005 STI (KWs; this car has trophied at Nat's). Right: Shawn in another EVO X (BC coilovers)

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...51_EBxQ7-M.jpg
This is the last time this car will have this much lean!

---------results---------

I ended up 4th in STU in the stock EVO, .3 seconds back from Paul in 1st. The other 2 cars ahead were also prepped and driven by Nationally Competitive drivers, so we were happy with the EVO's performance, to say the least.

http://autocross.com/texasregion/

1Tm STU 166 Paul Magyar Subaru STi Silver Dunlop 56.158 56.101+2 56.409+1 57.112+1 56.470+1 56.158
350983 Vorshlag Motorsports -
2Tm STU 66 Jason McCall Subaru STi Silver Dunlop 58.474+DNF 56.390+2 56.015+1 56.261 56.476+2 56.261
358922 Vorshlag Motorsports 0.103
3Tm STU 91 Wayne Atkins Honda Civic Si Black Bridgestone 57.545+1 57.479 56.423 56.422 56.261+2 56.422
282424 Atkins Design Group, Inc. 0.161
4 m STU 193 Terry Fair Evo Black Dunlop 55.751+DNF 57.481+1 56.440 56.855 56.636 56.440

--------data analysis---------

OK, lets discuss the magical "SST" transmission. Are the shifts as fast as they say? The data will tell us - we can compare 2-3 upshifts in a manual transmission car (our STU prepped E36 M3) vs 2-3 upshifts in the EVO X MR with the SST in Super-Sport auto mode, all data logged using the same DL1 system. These graphs say it all....

http://www.vorshlag.com/tech/upshift...peedvstime.jpg
E36 M3 shift. This is time vs. mph. Red, purple and black runs all have a 2-3 shift.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...20_CyTZU-M.jpg
Evo X MR, black line represents acceleration from 1st through 3rd (starting in middle of graph). Red is longitudinal acceleration.

There was a cone in the middle of the section on the EVO data, hence the dip in acceleration, but its not by much. Speed peaked at 65mph. Possibly the two flat parts are from the upshifts, but it is a little hard to tell since this data is on an autocross run and not a straight line, ruling out other variables. Regardless the car never stops accelerating and the slope of the curve only changes slightly. It has no dip in the speed vs time graph like the M3 does on an upshift. The EVO took advantage of the SST auto mode to do multiple up and downshifts where other racers stuck it out in 2nd gear only. Advantage: EVO MR.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...80_6dMyn-M.jpg
(click to see video of data logging of Terry vs. Amy)

That's the screen capture of the DL1 data showing Terry's (me) vs Amy's best runs. There is a 2 sec difference - we're normally only a tenth or two apart. She has 2 Nat'l Championships in STU-L. Basically I'm just faster everywhere and braking later, but I tend to do well when you need to drive a sloppy car violently like this. Once we get the floppy chassis settled down with a real suspension, the gap narrows.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/...180_6dMyn-M-LB

----------up next---------------

The AST 4200 double adjustable shocks are already here and the last EVO X camber plate part we need is due later this week. We've got a gaggle of exhaust parts here too, so we'll begin the custom 3" after-cat system tomorrow night.

Update: Mesh Foglight Opening Covers, Nov 18, 2008

A previous cooling mod (see posts above) left the EVO X MR's two foglight openings now completely unobstructed - begging to ingest a rock or giant bug into the pricey and essential engine and transmission oil coolers that nestle inside the front bumper cover. With track events on the schedule anything can happen if there's an "off", and our local tracks do have some rocks when you (or someone else in front of you) get off pavement. We regularly see gravel and debris slung on track and Hanchey was holding his breath at the last ECR event that none of that made its way into the oil coolers.

This project was undertaken by Brian to put some protective mesh in place of the foglights, which allow unrestricted airflow but will stop a rock or other foreign object larger than 1/4" diameter. He ordered some stainless steel "rock protection" grill mesh - he used #4 Mesh/Extra Course from HRP World (24"x36" sheet was $35). This gave us enough mesh to do the foglight openings on the EVO and the main radiator inlet + two brake duct openings on our LS1 powered BMW E36. Keeping rocks off the SST trans cooler on the EVO X MR was the reason for project. We removed the foglights and factory ducting from both sides when doing the SST cooling fan mod, shown above.

The mesh is stiff and holds it shape, yet still bends and cuts easily. Its stainless steel but we painted it semi-flat black to somewhat match the factory grill mesh. We didn't put it on a 45° angle like the stock stuff, but hey, its close enough and the final project still looks damn good in person.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...02_yotdJ-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...96_dfhbG-S.jpg
(click all pictures to see larger versions)

Of course we "cheated" and used the lift to make the work easier. First step once you have the car in the air is to remove the two plastic lower engine cover panels for access to the back of the bumper cover - there's no need to remove bumper cover from the car for this project. There's about 1.7 million screws and snap clips hold these two panels in place.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...69_kw34m-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...88_bBMW9-S.jpg

Each side uses approximately one rectangle that is 18" wide by 8" tall. You can go a little smaller, but there's plenty of room behind the bumper cover, so be conservative and make em larger. Use a black "Sharpie" marker to draw a line on the mesh then cut - You'll need a good pair of tin snips to cut it.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...93_vjFuU-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...23_djes8-S.jpg

Above, left - Hanchey test fitting the mesh before painting and final attachment. At above, right the painted mesh is secured to the factory threaded stand-offs for the foglight assemblies. #8 x 3/4" long button head Phillips drive sheet metal screws threaded into the stand-offs to hold the mesh in place. Brian made some large, square surface washers to spread the load of the screw head over the surface of the mesh.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...96_ZjGi4-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...41_caCzt-S.jpg

You can see the mesh in these photos above - the hand is there for contrast to show the black color. The stainless steel look would be OK if the factory grill mesh weren't black.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...25_cB7Ee-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...44_Yi6rD-S.jpg

The final mesh covers secured before the lower engine cover panels are replaced.

OK, onto the exhaust...

Update: Custom, Lightweight after-cat Exhaust Project (Part 1)

We plan on using the COBB Tuning downpipe, O2 housing and cat, but we wanted to make a lightweight after-cat exhaust ourselves... we have the tools... we have the technology... The Six Million Dollar Exhaust is born!

OK, so its really only about a $200 Exhaust, but who's counting? Unlike most of the off-the-shelf offerings out there (which are still few and far between for the new EVO X) we wanted to get a lightweight system with a low buck, home brew solution. No, its not titanium, or even stainless, but it is thin-wall 20 gauge (.049" wall thickness) carbon steel tubing with smooth 3" diameter mandrel bends, sourced from SPD Exhaust. We've built systems for our race cars before using SPD bends and they are very, very high quality. Not cheap, but you won't find thin walled 20 gauge bends for less (the cheaper bends are all .065" wall, or thicker).

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...85_g22CV-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...12_V6pXa-S.jpg
(Click pictures for larger versions)

We used three of the 45° mandrel bends (SPD 3" ID, 4" bend radius, .049" wall thickness = thin and light), 3' of straight pipe (3" ID, SPD .049" wall) and the two mufflers shown. The U-bend and 4th mandrel 45° were not used. Since the SPD parts come from California and have a 3-4 day lead time, we ordered everything in advance and got a few extra bends, just in case. The mufflers were 3" ID low cost DynoMax "straight through" units bought from Summit Racing (you don't get much cheaper than that). And instead of the uber-light system we built for the BMW E30, which is LOUD AS HELL (16 pounds for cat + exhaust + muffler), Brian chose a larger case 3" chamber main muffler + resonator for this multi-purpose daily driver/autocross/track car. And instead of a simple dump after the rear axle, this system runs all the way to the factory rear exhaust outlet opening. The main muffler came in at 10.8 pounds and the resonator at 5.2 - the muffler is heavier than we like, so we might go back and add a flange and section of pipe to allow for quick swapping of the muffler with a lighter weight "straight pipe", to drop 10 pounds and lose more back-pressure for race use.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...87_4XmmH-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...10_DMHA8-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...96_dfhbG-S.jpg

First step (after sourcing all of the parts) was to get the car in the air and yank the stock after-cat exhaust system off. This took literally about 90 seconds once the isolators were loose - its too easy when you have a lift. A tip for faster removal - lube all of the rubber exhaust hanger isolators with WD40 (shown above, left) and then the three exhaust hangers will pop right out. A little leverage with a prybar helps if they are stuck on.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...94_whPhH-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...88_Epm3p-S.jpg

Once the factory after-cat exhaust is off, its straight to our trusty 150 pound digital scale (+/- 0.1 lbs). I delicately balanced it on the flange with the lightest touch, and the system tipped the scales at 45.1 pounds. Our goal was to drop at least 20 pounds in this portion of the exhaust upgrade. The stock system is shown above, on the left.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...35_GYDxt-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...08_aqXSr-S.jpg

We started at the OEM flange at the back of the catalyst and worked our way back. An aftermarket 2-bolt 3" ID exhaust flange was bolted up to the stock cat flange and then the system was started from there. A 3' section of straight pipe was followed by the resonator, then another 3' section of pipe (later cut down a bit). Our hydraulic transmission jack worked well as an adjustable height exhaust stand. Both the 3" ID resonator and muffler allowed for a slip-fit to the 3" tubing, which gave us 2-3" of wiggle room as these joints could each be slide in and out by that much. You can see above that one of the 45° bends was cut in half and extended in the middle to give a slight jog laterally and another jog downwards, to clear the rear diff housing. Once it was all laid out where I liked it, each section was tacked together.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...92_3sdAd-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...18_diMq8-S.jpg

OK, everything is tacked in place. Neglected to get a good picture of the system installed in the car at this stage, of course. Work up to this point took 2.5 hours - that is fully laid out, tacked-together and ready to final weld. That's where we stopped last night and I'm heading out the shop to finish the welding. Once its welded up we'll re-fit it one last time and add the exhaust hangers (oops!) then remove it again for JetHot thermal coating.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...65_mC2Z2-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...98_dwmeD-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...34_xp42u-S.jpg

Here's the new exhaust on the scale and laid up next to the stock system. The new bits are weighing in at 23.8 pounds, so we've got a pre-coated savings of 21.3 pounds. Big thanks to DaveB for help during the entire fabrication!

More soon once I finish weld the exhaust and get it coated. Our new EVO X camber plate parts are days away, and the AST 4200s are sitting on the shelf...

Awesome to see some guys working on some track oriented parts! Cool idea for the MR guys. Good luck on the rest of the project, and nice write-up guys.

Thanks, Ryan. :cool: I hope our project updates don't get too boring; we've done long build threads like this on other forums for previous project cars and people liked seeing the added detail.

This should be a lot more fun on track with the new suspension and exhaust - but we don't plan on moving into TTA and messing with you and your car! This is still being built to compete in SCCA's "STU" autocross class, with only a few quick changes for TT use, so the lack of R compounds and boost should keep it squarely in TTB. :mitsu:

Yeah, I drove a STI with a side pipe (no muffler) for a while. So the two muffler idea was for me (and my ear drums). {thumbup} That collector-straight pipe should allow us to get to that familiar Evo open exhaust note we all love so much.

No man, the more detailed the more interesting! I'm curious to see how the MR ends up, looks pretty cool so far. I actually wont be in TT-A any longer, I'm prepping for TT-U :beer:

If you could post up here or PM me your plan for TT-B I'd appreciate it, Im just curious as to what you plan to do. Thanks guys and good luck!

Meet our TTU car. :)

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...91_gExwW-S.jpg

It's getting the 500 whp motor built right now. Should still weigh 2550 or so since we're running a 275mm tire. We'll tune the motor to match the weight. That should be a cool match up. Light weight/rwd versus awd/big HP.

We're going to run it in ST1 as well. Getting the final safety equipment in it while the motor is down. Then aero, digital dash, diff cooler, more brakes. The never ending to-do list.

Ohh god.....not happy to see that. :crap:

Meh, its not that much faster than the stock EVO X... about (edit) 14 seconds a lap at ECR's ~2 minute track. :cool: (you can see the TTU car passing the TTB EVO at 0:35 to 0:45)

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...67_GhNzZ-S.jpg
(click for video)

Granted, that's with the old 330 whp motor (bone stock junkyard special), not the upcoming 500 whp motor. With the old motor on straights it could just keep up with a modded C6 Z06. We hope that will improve...

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...78_VUxLT-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...68_EUoXD-S.jpg

Still, Danny Popp seems to be the man to beat in TTS and TTU both!

Hey, get it right, you were 14s a lap faster than me. :)

Having driven both cars, I was shocked by the closing rate of the LS1 car. Doesn't seem that fast from the driver's seat. Crazy.

Great Thread!

Looking forward to hearing more about your suspension solutions for the X :beer:

Hey, great writeup! Makes me wish I had a lift for sure!

Just one clarification:
1. it's Sean :D
2. I'm actually on Stance GR+Pro SSD coilovers (14kg/14kg) (http://stance-usa.com/sus/index.php?...d=32&Itemid=44)
3. That's actually a picture of Jason McCall driving my car

Jason's last run was in my car. He was only .2seconds off his best time in his STi (although he hit two cones). I still am having setup issues on my car (learning how to set the tire pressure and coilover rebound) and the car was overly soft by the time I got through messing it up.

Of course, I was 1.5 seconds behind the STU winner :( so I've got some learning to do (but 1.5s is about 3.5s less than it was 2-3 months ago, so that's a + -- and I beat Paul in his STi at the last event! [by like .040]).

Exhaust update: Too Quiet?!

Well we got the exhaust finish welded and prettied up and then fire the engine... too quiet!?! Yep the MagnaFlow 3-chamber "straight-thru" is just too efficient and was about the same volume as stock. Part of the reasoning behind our lightweight exhaust was so we could actually hear the engine note, to help with shifting when in manual mode (as it is now we have to watch the tach - deathly silent).

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...68_Kbk3C-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...99_uAuGN-S.jpg
L: On the car with the massive MagnaFlow R: Seam welds ground down for coating

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...66_rapEa-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...84_S6sE5-S.jpg
L: After driving the car for a short stint the steel turned bronze colored R: outlet is on left side only

So now we're going to make an interchangeable straight pipe to replace the (11 pound!) MagnaFlow for track events. Then we can change it out quickly at the track for more engine noise and power. :) Ordering some 3" V-bands and will knock out this new optional piece, then get all of it coated. This way we can also dyno with and without the muffler quickly...

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...38_aS67t-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...70_hRba5-S.jpg
L: Brian's EvoX at the Cobb Show. R: Vorshlag Test Pilot Mark Berry's EVO 9 weighs 2320 pounds!

Pics from a car show today, at the Cobb Tuning grand opening in Plano, TX. More: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/6623846_gJkMg

More soon,

Wanted to do a quick update on the Evo. We're waiting on rear top mounts to test with the rear suspension, but we had enough time on Friday afternoon to get the fronts on. By "we" I mean "me", Fair was hiding selling something or designing something so he said. Gosh! ha!

We installed our new camber plate and AST 4200 double adjustable shocks. For this first install we used Hyperco 7", 450 lb, 60mm ID springs. Not sure where we'll end up but that's where we'll start. AST 4200s are monotube, nitrogen charged dampers. They run the same components (piston, shims, etc) as the higher level 4300s that cost $2,000 more. This set in particular is designed to be internally adjustable so we don't catch as many TT points. A future set of 4200RR (remotes) might be installed for testing at a later time.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4..._CgvHQ-S-1.jpg

The spring perch was moved up to almost seat with the spring platform when installed. This lowered the car approximately 1" from stock. I didn't want to lower it too much with stock height still in the rear. We'll finalize various spring height combinations depending on what dealers and customers ask for. Yes, we're aware of driving with such drastically different rates and how that affects handling, ride, etc. This is just to test fitment, etc. We'll put the package together and head out to the track over the holidays if all goes smoothly.

The camber plates had our typical range of just over 2.0 degrees of change per side. I didn't get to check caster yet, but we did design it to provide stock caster and one adjustment for more caster. With the strut eccentric maxed out the car sat with -1.2° of camber and maxed out at -3.3° of camber. Since the eccentric gives you some range we will probably change the camber plate to have a final max of -4.5° and then -2.3° or so. If you change the eccentric bolt then you can get back into the stock spec range. The other side of the car had the bolt minimized and it was only at -0.9°. So you can see we have a large enough range to give you street and track setups. No one ever runs as much camber as we do, but we've seen situations where some tire/surface combinations require it. Usually it is for autocrossing, and this car will be doing that as well.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4..._rcDyN-S-1.jpg

I drove the car over the weekend, granted all the testing was street driving on 5 clicks from full soft rebound, 0 on compression. We have 12 clicks total rebound and 12 clicks compression. The car rode extremely well passing the "spouse test" with flying colors. She had no idea anything had changed on the car which is what we were shooting for. That likely means we can go higher in rates helping some of that lean in the 3600 pound Evo.

Here's where it sits at the moment. Lowering the front really helps visibility. The Evo sits up so high, us shorter torso folk can't see over the huge, flat hood. :)


http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...96_zyoXy-S.jpg

We'll have a followup on our tuning day at Cobb Tuning last week. We're testing the Access Port on our MR, one of the first MRs that Cobb has tuned.

One more benefit - this mod is also making the car lighter:

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4..._dw8DL-M-1.jpg
19.4 pounds for the OEM strut, spring and top mount

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4..._HTrZv-M-1.jpg
13.1 pounds for the AST 4200, Hyperco spring and Vorshlag camber-caster plate

Nice 12+ pound drop of unsprung weight off the front axle. :)

Dyno testing for the baseline setup and First Dyno Tune at Cobb Tuning. The EVO still has the completely stock exhaust and otherwise is "as delivered" from the dealer.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...81_hJtGD-M.jpg
click to enlarge

+50 whp peak and more power everywhere. Car already felt good at all engine speeds but feels amazingly good now.

Wow Terry. It looks like the torque curve really shifted to the left a bit. I'd imagine the car feels like a beast now. You could gain another 20whp with an exhaust and intake. Cool.

No helper or tender on the frt damper??? Got a good reason to skip one?

John-

Remember my Ohlins didn't have them.

I might be checkin out a set of AST's for my 135.

Based on the space btwn the upper perch and the top of the spring, I would say he is waiting on the helpers or the spacer adapter btwn the two?

Mine don't currently, nor did my Tein Super Racing. Nor do ALOT of the coilovers out there.

Just because they didn't have them doesn't mean the car wouldn't be better with them. The total lack of droop, especially with high rate springs contributes to lots of skipping and lack of compliance in bumps. I prefer to have some, personally.

I'm really just curious why AST chose not to run them, especially with all that extra stroke.

True, true. The more I study suspensions for ST cars the more I think they'd be better off with more droop and helpers. I guess Terry could be waiting for a helper spring and adapter as theorized above.

Yea, its just better everywhere. We've got the new exhaust bits we built waiting for us to tweak and install them.

Weight. Cost. Lack of Need.

But let me preface this with this statement: we aren't done with this suspension installation yet (rear isn't installed), much less the fine tuning of this setup. In the end we may in fact need tenders at either or both ends of the car.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4..._WLdyf-S-1.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4..._7jWQ4-S-1.jpg
At this ride height setting the spring is unseated from the upper perch at full droop, and a tender spring would fix that. This spring setting ended up being way too low (picture at right) and at the final ride height (much higher) the main spring did touch the upper perch at full droop.

If you're not going to lower the car very much tenders sometimes aren't needed. At the final ride height the EVO ended up at (see below) and with the 7" long 450#/in spring, at full droop the front spring is still touching both the upper and lower perches, so there would be zero benefit with a tender added. If the main spring never unseats at full droop then a tender is pointless.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4..._SsLEm-M-1.jpg
Final ride height was much higher than the first iteration.

This isn't always the case and we do offer tenders on most coilover strut set-ups, but wanted to try this without and it worked fine. :) If the car was run any lower, tenders would be needed to keep the spring seated at full droop and we will offer them as an option on this kit when its in full production. If in doubt, and if wheel/tire room isn't a concern (adding a longer spring or tender can often make the spring package sit below the top of the tire, limiting wider wheel & tire room inboard), then adding tenders would have no downside other than their extra cost.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/1..._BBwPh-M-1.jpg
Tire off the ground. This situation should be avoided at all costs. (this was a prototype test car that later got tweaked)

Once we autocross the car with this new setup, if we notice a wheel leaving the ground (never good) we may have to go back and add more droop travel and tenders. The rear is where we'll probably need to concentrate the most, as they tend to come off the ground on these front heavy cars that are lowered a lot. More than likely the rear will have tenders then.

Cheers,

I guess with a 450 lb/in main you'll have a fair amount of droop in the front. If the spring was unseated though and you have no tender there is no load at all on the tire.

When you start raising rates into BSP/SM land you begin to lose quite a bit of droop due to the rate increase. This is one place where I think a tender (not helper) can help.

As for tire clearance, I am all too aware of the fitment in the front. Hoosiers are damn wide at the bead/sidewall.

You got a 135 Dave? Sweet!

Anyway, your Ohlins were dual height adjustable (and had very little droop anyway).

- Andrew

Ah ha. Here's the problem, definition of helpers and tenders. kekek gets it, but just so everyone understands the difference btwn the two. A true tender spring is not bottomed out at static ride height. A true helper is really just a spacer that keeps the springs from banging around at full droop. The problem is most companies say they sell tenders when they are really helpers. We're lazy and mix the terms too just to avoid confusing people.

Here's the rub. On a performance vehicle, full droop is almost always achieved in one condition, when the car is on a lift. :) When you start adding sway bars, increasing spring rate and rebound in the damper, you almost never use the full stroke of the shock in a track or autocross environment. You are simply not in that condition (wheel off the ground or unloaded) long enough to see the spring unseat.

Now, for a car that is track and street driven the helper is nice to have so in those odd situations like big dips in driveways or giant dips on highways, having the spring always seated is a good thing, keeping everything quiet and not risking damage to the perches, etc. Performance-wise *most* helpers offer little help in keeping the wheel on the ground.

We actually DID get sort of a hybrid helper to work on our STS E30 318is (no limited slip allowed). We made some custom length rear shocks (extra droop) and ran a heavy helper on the rear with very little rebound. It was bottomed out (barely) at static ride height so that it offered *some* force on the inside rear. The car could be flat footed out of turns, granted it has 130 lb-ft of torque. This was a very unique application driven by the rules of the SCCA STS class. I'd never recommend that setup normally, but for custom apps it worked well.

Currently the front of the Evo is running around with the 7" Hypercoil spring touching the perch (always in contact) and no helper. We always offer helpers as an option and if you want to lower it more (like Fair said) we recommend it. The car with camber plates and 4200s is quieter (and rides better) than it was with the stock Bilsteins. And since the spring touches, there's no banging around, ever.

Now for the true tender. We likely won't do it in the front because of the packaging issues. The springs end up running so far down the strut you lose the option of running a big wheel and tire. For the rear, a true tender might work well for the X because of the AYC's tendency to allow almost too much turn-in at corner entry and some awesome push at exit. Obviously in stock form they have different parameters to work with than we do. This seems to get worse the more aggressive you are with the car. If you drive smoothly you don't notice this as much. Therefore, we might bypass the rear tender and set it up for a smooth driver using our ability to control compression and rebound valving instead since that is what matters the most in transitions.

Final parts should be in this week and I'm hoping we go to the track next week if we're lucky. Sorry for the long post, I don't get to post often these days. :)

Wow, really great thread guys. As I've told you before, I know where I'll be sending my X MR when I'm ready to prepare it for the track... but I'll let you guys do all of the prototyping and testing first. :)

I need to make a trip up to Dallas. Vorshlag, now Cobb... I also want to go drive ECR soon...

--michael

Lightweight Battery install

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...55_QHPws-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...63_MGu9p-S.jpg
Left: OEM battery. Right: The Deka ETX18L we used instead

A common autocrosser/track trick to lose weight from a car is to use a lightweight AGM style battery in place of the stock unit, when allowed. The Original Equipment batteries used in most modern cars (which can range from 35-55 pounds) are usually a cheap lead-acid wet cell battery, spec'd to work in extreme hot/cold and to have a lot of reserve power - so you can leave your lights or hazard indicators on for a long time and still be able to start a car at -30°F. With smart use in "engine off" situations, racers can deal with a bit less reserve power and we tend to use much lighter, high cranking amp mini-batteries that are made for motorcycles.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...60_hiDrn-M.jpg

The Absorbed Gas Mat (AGM) style batteries can deal with more vibraiton and do not de-gas (Hydrogen) like a standard wet lead-acid battery, and they tend to work better in racing environments. We've used many brands over the years but have noticed that a lot of the higher cost names are just rebadged batteries made by a select few battery manufacturers. The Deka AGM battery we picked for the EVO X is one we've used in a number of our other cars, including our V8 powered BMW. They work well for the relatively mild winters and hot summer weather we see here in Texas (15°F to 105°) and usually last 2-3 years of street/track/autocross use. A $10 low amperage trickle charger (a "battery tender") is a good idea if the car sits for more than 5 days or so without being used.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...79_W7Uf4-M.jpg

The factory battery mount was surprisingly versatile and simple (stock design used J-hooks that you can get at AutoZone!) and with little more than a spacer block (with a shaped cutout to grab the narrower Deka) it worked great and took all of 15 minutes to swap in. I'm not showing the spacer up close and no, we are not going to be selling this part. Yes, it will even pass a tech inspection - something most homemade battery mounts rarely do. ;)

This Deka battery cost about $78 and the Werker SAE top post adapters (automotive style brass posts that convert a motorcycle battery for automotive use) were another $9. So for about $90 we dropped another ~17 pounds from the car. Yes, it removes weight off the rear, but we always go for the lightest legal class weight at all costs (esp. on this heavy EVO!) rather than strive for the "perfect weight balance" by adding weight (which is not beneficial). Car started great and has been working fine for street use.

Cheers,

We finally got the spherical rear shock mounts in from AST for the EVO X and installed the 4200 rear shocks yesterday (the fronts went on a while back with our alloy steel Vorshlag spherical camber/caster plates). Both Hanchey and I have driven the car around extensively now (test loop, street driving) with the 4200s on front and back, and its awesome. We'll tweak a few things then put these into production - and we already have a brand new shock design (upcoming 5100/5200 series ASTs) planned for testing on this car very soon.

We are scrambling to line up a track day to test 4200 shock settings, spring rates, alignment tweaks, etc. Brian wants to change the base rebound valving on the fronts before we hit the track, then we're ready.

Full gallery of AST / EVO X installation pics: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/6894033_ZP2NB

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...97_2W9RA-M.jpg

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...23_gUeUU-M.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...56_2X5aX-M.jpg
These are the ride heights were are happiest with. No droop travel was lost at these heights.

Of course we rated the OEM rear springs (some goofy tapered/progressive Eibach spring). It was variable rate 160-215 #/in, and we used a 550 #/in rate for initial testing. The car rides better than stock with the compression valving turned down. The OEM shocks it came with are garbage - one of them is already leaking, at 6000 miles, and they have zero compression damping and too much rebound. Its not hard to improve handling over this stuff, even with nearly 3X the stock spring rate. :p
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...22_pWKG5-M.jpg
Better picture of the Vorshlag camber-caster plates (pre-production) add positive caster and negative camber adjustment

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...40_Whp9d-M.jpg
Our front spring package allows the lower spring perch to sit above the tire (lots more room inboard)

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...41_A687t-M.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...98_KaYwy-M.jpg
Setting rear ride height (left) then locking down the lower perch (right)

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...52_xtKyj-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...98_mjQXg-S.jpg
Left: Stock rear shock assembly = 12.6 lbs. Right: AST 4200 rear was 9.1 lbs

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...95_dNYXA-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...26_2QnPz-S.jpg
Rear rebound knobs are accessible with the forward plastic trunk bulkhead removed, but we'll add remote cable adjusters for easier access instead

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...23_UFaWR-M.jpg
Like up front, the rear shock's Compression adjuster knob is at the bottom. Its easy to reach if you lean down and reach behind the tire - enabling fast/pit stop valving adjustments

We'll post up with more data once we get this car on track with the DL-1 onboard.

Cheers,

Lightweight Race Exhaust, Ver 2.0

After hearing how quiet our first "race" exhaust ended up at, and with the main muffler gobbling up a bit more weight than we liked, I went back and re-made the lightweight after cat exhaust on the EVO X. This is just a one-off exhaust we made for our shop car and not something we're going to mass produce or market, so its not exactly pretty but it is functional. The system is pieced together with thin wall 3" carbon steel exhaust tubing and mandrel bent bends from SPD Exhaust. We picked up a few V-band clamp assemblies from them for this version as well.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...69_gmC48-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...93_ujKb9-S.jpg

The first step was cutting off the rear section in front of the main (rearmost) muffler we added, with an eye for the added clearance room around the to the rear subframe (1/4" is enough). I tacked the clamp to the now "mid-pipe" section (shown above) and mocked up the exhaust with the muffler on the car and tacked that end in place.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...24_Z54PM-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...06_s55Pa-S.jpg
The rear muffler section weighs 12.9 pounds and is now removable.

We then added a hanger to the back of the mid-pipe (bolting to one of the many chassis bracing points) and then made a new rear section to take the place of the muffler, and added an additional V-band stub and mount to that end. Everything fit great and it sounded a LOT better. The entire race exhaust (sans muffler) is now 16 pounds after the cat.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...37_dv5vq-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...43_4D83A-S.jpg
The "Race" version was mocked up. This rear section weighs just 4.5 pounds and is a bit louder.

Brian drove the car around for a day with the race setup, loved it, and now its removed for coating. Building another setup like this for a 2008 STI this week (Paul's STU car) and we'll get that one coated as well.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...06_BQzSP-M.jpg

An extra 45° bend and a short length of 3" straight pipe + a V-band and a little bit of work, so wasn't much more money, and now we have a dual purpose, reconfigurable lightweight race/street exhaust. Thanks to Paul for helping with the version 2 work.

Great work! Sell me some of these things already!!

Is there any coil binding of the springs in the front or rear with these spring lengths on this car? Would it be beneficial to run a longer spring in the rear rather than the pictured tender? I assume the tender in the rear saves some weight. If no coil bind, then no reason for for a longer spring. what are the lengths again? Interesting to hear of our impressions of the suspensions compliancy on the road. This could be just the ticket. What are the differences with the 5000 series shocks?

We'll end up running a longer spring in the rear. The current Hypercoil is too short. Haven't seen any coil bind yet and the OBD Hypercoils can safely coil bind. Not that we want to set the car up that way, but as we get more road miles, check the "tattle tails" on the struts/shocks, we'll know how much displacement we're getting in the shocks/struts in the real world vs. calculated. Then we'll make a determination from there on recommendations for spring lengths.

Hypercoil makes (IMO) the best springs on the market. They test things no one else dreams of, they have more travel, they are lighter, and hold their advertised rate longer than anything out there. I know that there's a lot of marketing dollars thrown at other brands, but when I see the test results personally AND professional Grand Am teams (among other professionals) use them, I know they are good.

As a side note. I swapped cars with a customer the other day, for his E92 M3. What a fantastic car, but the Evo has WAY more torque, better steering, and now handles better. We'll have to test that last claim. :) Firm EDC ride setting was the same as our Evo with triple the spring rate. Don't get me wrong, I love both cars and the V8 revving from 6-8k rpm is intoxicating, the Evo is pretty amazing for something to daily drive and take to the track and save some money while you do it.

(I'm out of the country at the moment so Fair will probably fill in)

a lil birdie told me im gonna be testing AST triple adjustables soon!!


mmmmmm...... perfect color combo for me :D

Terry,

Is that Fog-light removal and Transmission cooler fan mod legal in STU?


Dave

Can't wait to read the review. I didn't realize they made them for the VIII and IX either.

Dennis

Yep, as far as you know. :) Seriously, the foglight thing is little more than a weenie protest. STU allows the entire front bodywork to be changed, bodykits and wings, etc, but not the factory foglights? That's ridiculous. I did foglight removal on our STU M3 in 2007 and was all worried - didn't even get a mention. There are so many other, much more substantial illegalities in the class that are visually obvious when walking the paddock at Nats. We saw things like "the wrong turbo", aftermarket/lightweight control arms coupled with adjustable plates (its illegal to do both), missing trunk interiors and all sorts of other obvious things. Fog light removal doesn't even rate in the top 10. :D

We'll take the 5" cooling fan off for Nats if people get their panties in a bunch. Its a reliability/consistency mod, not a performance enhancement upgrade. With multiple drivers at track events we think its necessary. We ran two drivers in the EVO X at an autocross last weekend back to back to back, with the fan never turned on, and it worked fine. Removal won't take minutes.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...96_xP9TN-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...17_NycYi-S.jpg

We took two STU cars to a recent concrete site event, our first for the year. Saturday was a test-n-tune where we setup these and some other Vorshlag/AST test cars. We even changed springs and revalved shocks before the event Sunday on a few. The EVO X now has AST 4200s and Dunlops + the 2008 STI with AST 4200s and Dunlops, and both COBB tuned and with Vorshlag custom after-cat exhausts (lightweight and loud).

Results from this event: http://www.tamscc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9461

Our own Brian Hanchey and Amy Fair both co-drove the EVO X while Paul M drove the STI, all against other Texas STU talent including GD Subarus, E46 M3s, and even a Mustang GT (he was in another class for this event but he's looking to move to STU). We had a great "constant" in Andy Hollis' STS Honda to compare to as well.

Long story short: The EVO X won STU. Brian was playing around with settings and techniques things on his last 2 runs, as his 2nd run had everyone in the class covered. For its first autocross with non-stock suspension we were very pleased, and we're about to add COBB bars and more front spring rate, plus a brand new inverted front strut setup. The 08 STI did very well on its maiden event also, trailing the EVO and just nipping at the heels of another 07 STI, fully STU prepped with Ohlins. The data logging we did on the EVO and STI showed them to be very close in lateral grip and braking (1.10 to 1.15g in both) but the speed variations of this tight course kept the SST transmission dancing between 1st and 3rd gears, which was probably what made the difference and the win. In "S-Sport mode" the MR is never outside of the peak powerband, EVER. Its just so damn EASY to drive these cars at 10/10ths.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...22_mz886-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...82_yLnPf-S.jpg

We also had AST equipped cars win STX (me driving a BMW E36 328is) and STS2 (Miata), so it was a great season opener weekend. We will be doing more events at this site (Texas A&M Riverside Annex), as its WWII era concrete is probably as close to Lincoln, Nebraska as we'll get this close to Dallas.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4..._agMNm-M-1.jpg
The black high temp coating on the custom EVO X exhaust came out looking grea

The engine tuning done by COBB is paying off, as recent "side by side acceleration tests" against a similarly prepped 08 STI and an E46 M3 were total blowouts in the EVO X.

Man, I cant wait for mine to get here. That new STi looks sweet on those TR wheels.

Looking great! I love the updates guys...so thorough.

When are you going to test the bars? I am assuming you will use both front and rear. Will be interesting to see how you like them with the coilover set up. Have you thought of a rear bar upgrade only to start?

After looking at all of the many options available, Hanchey just contacted Cobb about anti sway bars and we'll likely go pick them up this week (along with their high flow catalyst). We're going to put them on the front for sure and probably both ends soon.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...08_aqXSr-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...69_PNKR4-S.jpg
Left: Rear bar looks easy to change. Right: Front bar = notsomuch

The front bar doesn't look like fun to remove/replace on the EVO X but even with 450F/550R #/in spring rates it still needs help with roll control. We are going to up the front spring rate as well before doing one final test, then taking the entire suspension off and sending it to a magazine for one of their test cars. We have a new setup (5000 series Inverted ASTs) coming for our EVO to test with very soon. We're already testing 5100, 5200 and 5300 inverted shocks on a number of cars and the testing is going VERY well. We should have 5100s on the shelf for the EVO 8/9 and EVO X soon.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...18_4b9bb-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...41_BrMjk-S.jpg

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...05_g7exn-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...24_cDLUD-S.jpg

do you guys selling the camber plates yet? Front and rear?
Nice looking car and job !

I definitely want/ need some two ways...or maybe three way depending on the price. Do you have a guess-ament on price for the 5200 and 5300 series for a VIII? TIA.

Dennis

We have protoype parts on the EVO X and production plates in stock for the 8/9. We have another batch of 8/9 and the first production batch of EVO X plates coming later this week...

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...14_4zpDv-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4..._vSE64-S-1.jpg
Left: EVO 8/9 front plates. Right: EVO X plates on our MR

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...78_RdWqc-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...36_2kgwa-S.jpg
AST makes spherical rear top mounts for EVO 5 thru EVO X

5200s should be around $3600 with remote reservoirs, 45mm inverted shafts, etc. The 5300s are a hair over $5000. The nice thing about the 5000 series is you can upgrade from singles to doubles to triples at a later date for only a little more than the price difference between them when new.

We should have final prices and specs on EVO 5100/5200/5300s soon. We just got some EVO 5 AST 5200s in this week - I should go take some pictures of them. :)

looks real good.....

Yes, yes you should. :)

Vorshlag makes the best camber plates for the EVO, handsdown.

- Andrew

Please do! I havent seen them yet, Cant wait till theyre here.:D

Ask, and ye shall receive: new AST 5200 pics: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/...77362366_FTxsj

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...32_HUDkd-L.jpg
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...66_FTxsj-L.jpg
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...94_uvvQj-L.jpg

More soon...

Holy Schnikie's, those really look nice!!!

The Vorshlag Crew had a fun filled track test day on Tuesday. A magazine we work with was in the Austin area working on a Tech article, so we had asked them to drive the Vorshlag EVO X for a possible future article. They finished up their testing on time and had Tuesday morning free. Our good friend, Andy Hollis, is a member at the new Harris Hill Road country club track in San Marcos. We had a magazine writer, a track, and a car. Road trip!

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...63_UMPbj-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...85_CD78D-S.jpg
Left: The magazine tester talks with Andy. Right: Heading out on course


Seeing as the EVO build is supposed to be a "do-it-all" project, we decided to make the 251 mile drive down there in the EVO versus trailering it down there. We've had the Dunlop Star Specs on it for a while - they are doing fine and wearing well, with several track days, many autocrosses, and 6000 street miles. They are a great tire if you want to "do it all".

We left Dallas at 5:30AM, arrived 5 minutes late in San Marcos at 10:05, unloaded the car and got started. The EVO's onboard GPS Navigation led us directly there (for once). We had added Cobb sway bars to the car last week and had not tested with them on yet. Also, we didn't have time to set the camber trackside for the initial drive by the magazine writer, as his schedule was pretty tight. It wasn't really crucial since this was just a brief test drive. We weren't trying to set fastest lap (yet) - more on that in a bit. After a brief photo shoot, airing up the tires and removing our wares from the car, we were off. The car was a little pushy for our liking, but there wasn't time to really dial the car in for him.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...18_2aFke-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...06_MnLyM-S.jpg
The Harris Hill Road course has excellent pavement, big elevation changes, and lots of room

Everything went well and the comments were positive concerning the ride quality and handling. Keep in mind it has to be daily driven, autocrossed, and track driven which is a challenge in the EVO. We were a little disappointed that the car didn't handle up to our track standards out of the box, although it wasn't a surprise. We had not had the chance to get on the track since getting the AST 4200 suspension installed plus the new Cobb bars. We had autocrossed it with the ASTs, but that is a complete different driving style and camber/shock setup. After the magazine writer had left we put in several additional sessions in the EVO, playing with camber & toe, shock settings, tire pressures and sway bar settings. We were able to get most of the push out and the car was extremely neutral when the tires were cool. In a few laps the weight of the EVO just overpowered the narrow 245mm tires. We know it would improve considerably with 275mm rubber. When the tires overheated it would push, and the DL-1 data showed it in lap times. It would slow down a second or more after the first few laps. We saw as high as 1.21g lateral and 1.12g under braking, however, even with the skinny tires.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4..._6thjM-S-1.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...54_mtgf4-S.jpg
These pictures were with the "street" camber of -2°. It got a lot faster at -4°

Thanks to Chris Fleming at Cobb Tuning of Plano, who helped source new Hawk DTC-70 brake pads for the track testing and helped with the swaybar install at their shop. With these new pads braking on track was MUCH improved. Even though you're not supposed to drive them on the street, we took the car down there with the track pads on it. We just made sure our stops were all hard and fast on the highway, hehe.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...94_JRyff-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...11_cSy8T-S.jpg
The horses in the background liked the EVO's exhaust note

You can see in the pictures the car still has some body roll. We plan to go up in spring rates to help combat this. It rides so well now that I'm confident we can revalve the shocks, go up in spring rate, and still maintain good ride quality. We asked the track management what a good time at Harris Hill was for their clockwise 1.8 mile course. They said in a street car a 1:35 is fast, anything 1:30 or less is really fast. By the end of the day we were running 1:30 laps according to our data logger. We were happy with the results and know there's more time in it, especially with properly sized track wheels/tires. We'll be running it at a NASA Time Trial event in two weeks and a BMW Club event after that, so we'll make some tweaks and go back for more. Stay tuned!

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...35_gGLAY-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...13_dJ8cN-S.jpg
Fair in the Miata: "Its a bit different than driving our V8 powered BMW..."

As a nice bonus, H2R let Terry drive their club's track prepped Miata (NB). It was equipped one of our competitor's coilovers on it so it was nice to get an on-track comparison. He was "just going to do a lap or two" on the almost corded race tires, but had a blast and stayed out lap after lap. Of course he said it needed better shocks, ha. Driving the lightened Miata on 225mm R compounds is "too easy", yet still lots of fun.

The folks at Harris Hill were great and they have a fantastic Country Club road course and driver's facility. If anyone that lives near Austin or San Marcos hasn't been out there they need to look for a DE event there and go (and join - we were there on an open "member day" and had the place completely to ourselves!) We're thinking of renting the track in the future and coming down again to test with some AST customers - it was well worth the 3.5 hour drive from Dallas.

To follow up, in May, we're planning an Evo gathering, with the Friday afternoon being a track day at HHR. Come on out and play :)

Details here: https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/so...e-invited.html

Glad you decided to make coilover for the "V". Now can you just make some for the Evo X :updown:

The entire thread as about Brian and Terry setting up Brian's X with AST's.

Last night we were doing some "clean up" projects. I had a chance to throw the stock MR front strut on the shock dyno. Pretty interesting plot really. I did a run at 15 inches/second. This is a common "full sweep" people tend to want to see. It actually is completely unrealistic in the real world. There's no such thing as 15 ips in rebound so why measure it?

So I did a sweep at 5 ips as well. Notice how different the plot is on rebound (the negative side). Very little hysteresis and more progression AND zero or very little rebound at slow velocities. That's where you need rebound on turn-in. This curve has almost the opposite shape of all high end shocks out there where you have high rebound forces at very slow speeds and a digressive shape to the curve above 5 ips. 5 ips (or less) is more realistic as to what you see on the track or street and where you should look for performance. We've tested some of the low cost overseas coilovers where they made zero rebound force till 4 ips. That's the difference with high end shocks. Bistein makes good shocks and probably gets stuck with specs the manufacturer wants to meet liability and other requirements.

We recently purchased a potentiometer for testing (shock pot) to prove this in a real world situation by using our data logger and driving around on our test loop. We've got some really good pot holes, washboard bumps, and turns to show what your car is really doing on the street.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...92_rRCvy-L.jpg

Yikes. Thanks for posting the plot though. Got the rears?

- andrew

Brian,
Thats some good info there, I am very suprised to see how little rebound the stock shocks have below 3 ips. I wonder what the non MR shocks are like? Once I get my set on the car, I can send you a front evo 9 shock to test if you like.

Ryan

Yes, I know it is. I was pointing out their mistake (I believe it is a typo. The V is so old at this point and never released in the States) listing their new offering as a Evo V coilover. I think they meant to list it as a Evo X coilover that will be released shortly and am anxious to purchase one. {thumbup}

They didnt make a mistake, they are for an Evo 5. Which has the same suspension as a 7/8/9 (minus one mount). {thumbup} Those are 5200's for the 5, Brian is, I believe, running 4200's.

Yea, that set was actually built for an EVO V customer here in the 'States. :) AST has been making shocks for these cars for a while, but this is our first 5200 variation for a V. We are running 4200s on our X for now but have some 5300s coming for it soon.

Confused on the AST models? Read this page: http://www.vorshlag.com/ast_models.php

my bad. Sorry.

I had a really interesting morning I thought I'd share. Late last night Fair and I decided to install a new spring rate package for this weekend's events. Saturday I'm taking the car to a NASA Time Trial, Sunday "the Fairs" will be running the car at an SCCA autocross in STU, a good mix for testing. After seeing all the body roll at Harris Hill we decided to go from 450/550 lb/in to 700/800 rates. Now the car had slight understeer with this first combination, but I attribute some of that to running a skinny, worn out street tire versus the balance AND the nose heavy platform that the Evo is doesn't help. So if we fix the front, it's possible that we fix the issue. We don't like to change the opposite end of the car if we don't have to, I.E. fix what's broken. Most of the time you'd think more spring rate would make that end push more, but sometimes that's not the case. As a side note, we'll be switching to Yokohama AD08s in late April, running AD07s in the meantime. We have always loved Yoks for their R Compound-like turn-in and have had a 1st and 2nd place at Nationals on them too which doesn't hurt.

I drove the car home last night and it definitely felt aggressive to say the least, but not unbearable. I still want a suspension that I can drink a Starbucks in. Call me a snob, but I gotta have my coffee. :) I had to meet AJ from Performance Speed Tech (shop at MSR) this morning to deliver a part for a customer. We met in downtown Fort Worth which is 65 miles one way for me. I figured it might be a good test for the new package. I revalved the front slightly and did nothing to the rear. The rear has been working well on soft settings so no need to go up. The front we were running at full stiff so with the increase in rate I upped the rebound valving. North Dallas to Fort Worth is a great test for a suspension. Concrete side streets, new concrete highways, old concrete highways, new asphalt and old, VERY old asphalt highways make up the trip. Not to mention downtown Fort Worth is a disaster of construction. You get a mix of every bump you could ever imagine.

The trip to Fort Worth was comfortable, still aggressive. Definitely not coffee cup worthy. The car was pitching more than I like, and it was pretty obvious the rear of the car was the likely problem since I had them full soft and 6 clicks on the front. After meeting AJ I turned the rears up 5 clicks and drove back to our shop down the same roads. It was a night and day difference! The car was super smooth, obviously stiffly sprung but you could definitely drink your favorite beverage now.

Why do I bring all this up? Aside from the fact that it proves that monotubes can do a great job of controlling high spring rates without beating you up, it comes back to all the chatter we hear about critical damping. Yes, the theory and practice of trying to find the "perfect" suspension via calculations works, it can never beat the actual practical testing on the street. With a simple turn of the knob, I was able to match the front and rear frequencies of the suspension without too much effort. I reached in the trunk, turned two knobs, and was done. I can probably tell you that 700/800 won't be the perfect combination in a spreadsheet (I didn't calculate it), but with some tuning and testing, it might end up being very fast. We'll see this weekend. :)

It is better. I'm running 784 (14kg) all around and the car is very nice on the track :) I have a set of 12kg springs (672) that I guess I might throw on the front if ya'll smoke me this weekend ;)

(Imitation being the most sincere form of flattery and all).

aww don't be a chicken! Man up and throw some 1000's on the back. :lol:

This isn't BSP ;)

Dave

shoot that's not even half way to BSP land.

I'm in BSP this year :lol:

This is why the stock suspension rides how it does. The dampening is not matched to the spring rates.

A couple poor videos of this car at the AutoX this weekend. Amy drove the living snot out of it.

1st run by Terry (in the middle of the video) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdITfcw5M2U
2nd run by Terry - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq8KiXAWgfE

Sorry for the poor angle, etc, but I was having to work, so I just stuck my camera on a wall and let it record.

Make sure you wait for YouTube to process the videos so you can watch them in "HD."

says the videos are no longer available...

Youtube is having major issues today. Just refresh and it should pull up.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...52_ZPJTY-M.jpg
Well, I was hoping to have all the race results in before I posted an update from the weekend. Last Saturday Terry and I took the Evo to MSR for the NASA event. The weather was pretty bad when we got there. It was in the low 40s, still raining and misty. The track was super slick. We were there late, but no point in going out since the weatherman said it would dry out slowly. Time Trial is a "best lap" effort so there's no point in beating the car up.

And it was sloooow to dry. The track wasn't fully dried till our 4:30 session later that day. Our first afternoon session was almost dry. The car turned a 1:27 in still slick conditions. That was good for 4th in the group behind two Vipers and a ZO6. The last session had some more "big guns" come out and the guys with R compounds started showing their grip. We managed a 1:25.1 in the Evo which was good enough to win TTA, and be within a few tenths of being a front runner in TTS. While a 1:25 isn't super fast when you consider the Evo is 3600 pounds and we still have the Dunlop 245mm street tires (Star Specs), a 1:25 doesn't sound so bad. A lighter, raced prepped E36 BMW usually runs 1:24s on Hoosiers for a comparison. So given the cold weather, the drying conditions and the prep of the car, we were happy with the results.

The car felt really awesome pretty much everywhere. It could use more power, but turn-in, mid corner, and corner exit were all great. For once, it had a touch of oversteer which was nice and much different than our first event at Eagle's Canyon on stock suspension. I was getting pulled on the straights by all the TTS and up cars, but usually closed the gap in the tighter turns (thank you autocross!). The Evo was definitely fast in the turns making 1.28g according to the DL-1. It made 1.15g in braking a time or two. And an interesting side note, when you start making 1.28g in an Evo you have to fill the tank every session. The Evo is thirsty on the track. Even with 5/8 of a tank, the car will suck air at some point. With stock suspension we could make 2 - 20 minute sessions, not anymore.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4..._9i5xw-L-1.jpg


Sunday Terry and Amy took the Evo to Pennington Field for a SCCA autocross. Amy ran in "Women's" and Terry ran in the "X" class. Both classes are PAX based. Since he's probably running different cars this year, he wanted to be in a class that allowed that. Amy smoked even STU Open with a 37.2. That would have won STU by 0.4s! Terry was a few tenths behind with a 37.4. Amy wrapped up the 10th spot in PAX in a field of 148. That's an encouraging result, but still the car was 1.5s out of 1st place in PAX which means we'll need to do better to place well at Nationals. Considering the level of prep, this definitely was a promising finish in its 2nd autocross ever (with shocks). The transmission comes through again with some 2-1 downshifts and 2-3 upshifts you'd never dare do manually. Thumbs up to the SST!

Needless to say, the new spring rates really helped at the track and autocross course. Terry said the car turned in so fast you had to rethink your driving. This is definitely a change from the first autocross at TAMSCC where it was a little sluggish.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/4...27_Q9qBe-M.jpg


New things coming soon:

1. Race seats - get some of the "lead" out. The car is making enough grip now that even the awesome stock seats aren't cutting it.
2. Yokohama AD08s - this should be worth a few tenths at least over our beat up Star Specs, most likely much more.
3. Lighter and wider wheels - we'll probably get a 18x9 or 9.5 for the car, possibly 18x10s for the track wheels.
4. Lighter brakes - see if we can't get some weight off the front with some Racing Brake goodies. The stock brakes are still marginal at best on the track.

AMS makes a surge tank that will keep you from having to run > 1/2 a tank. @ $600+ I'll just keep filling up every session, but ya'll can afford it ;)

BlackTrack says he can go out with just enough for his session and it keeps the car from starving itself.

I knew they had one. That would definitely be protested in STU and since it isn't something we can easily change like boost and fog lights, I didn't want to do it.

That stinks. Filling up every session is a huge pain in the butt -- especially at a place like ECR where the pumps still aren't automated.

Oh, I forgot to ask... Mark Berry and I noticed a metallic ringing when the car was accelerating this weekend. I asked Amy about it, but she said she didn't notice it. Mark and I were able to hear it when the car was on the other side of Pennington from us (even over the exhaust). It sounded weird.

That's the "Street" muffler... with the 2nd muffler bypassed (the track exhaust) that all goes away and it sounds SO much better.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/5..._phkZL-M-1.jpg

Another fun weekend in the Evo! We joined the BMW CCA Saturday at MSR-C for their DE and Club Race. Kudos to Bruce Heersink and team for running a great event!

This was a great test after our NASA event two weeks ago where we ran very tired 245/40-18 Dunlop Z1 Star Specs. We switched to Yokohama AD07s (265/35/18s) and Enkei 18x10.5 wheels. The AD07s are on closeout since the AD08s are around the corner. This was a chance to try something new and bigger, for this "bigger" car. Robert Fuller of RobiSpec shipped out the wheels the day I called and we had them two days later. Thanks Robi! A mid week trip in the pouring rain to MSR where AJ at Performance Speed Tech had our Yoks and we were ready to go. The 265s were a perfect fit for the fronts. The rears required a little fender rolling, but we made sure to stick to the "letter of the law" for STU so they aren't aggressively rolled in the least. With the right offset rears, we believe we can run 285s no sweat. The front easily swallows it. We'll most likely settle on AD08s in 285mm width for NASA TT use.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/5..._mbFfq-S-1.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/5...81_UN9ix-S.jpg

Looking over the DL-1 data from the NASA event two weeks ago, we had max values of 1.25g lateral, with 98% values of 1.05g on the Dunlops. Using 98% values rules out the occasional variance in the data. The weather was almost identical for the two weekends, with most sessions were in the 40°s with high winds sustained at 25-35 mph, with gusts even higher - not your perfect day at the track. I had to close my helmet visor the wind would blow so hard into the car on the south side of the track that it would move your head!

The new, unshaved AD07 Yoks pulled a max of 1.40g and 98% values of 1.15g. So basically we picked up 0.1g going from a Dunop with 2/32" of tread to a full tread, wider Yokohama. Shaving the tires can be good for 1-2s a lap depending. Lap times were a second faster as well. The DL-1 recorded a 1:24.2 vs. a 1:25.1 from two weeks ago. Not that you can put much into theoretical laps, but the DL-1 says the "perfect" lap would have been a 1:23.4. I would believe it though since there wasn't a perfectly, traffic free, clean lap in any of the 4 DE sessions (unlike in NASA TT, there's only 4 places to pass at MSR in a DE). Unfortunately we could not take in reliable tire data during all this. We started with 36/34 psi and the outside tires climbed to 58/55. Yes, hard to believe. The car had an obvious tire pressure induced push towards the end of each session, no doubt related to the insane tire pressures. We didn't have enough sessions to play with pressures or tire temps. The tires weren't rolling over to the edges so the pressures we used were not ideal - 5-10mm of the tire tread wasn't even being used at these high pressures.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/5..._63id3-S-1.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/5..._REKrW-S-1.jpg

I lost the 2nd session entirely, betting 3/4 of a tank of fuel was enough, but on the first lap the car fuel starved and I had to go get filled up. The EVO does use some fuel in track use. Now that we've really got the car working, it can't even make a 20 minute session without fuel starving! MSR has a complex of left handers that ends up being one constant arc called "Buzzard's Neck". By the end of 20 minutes the poor EVO would fuel starve coming onto the straight after that sequence of left handers - Not ideal.

So another great weekend in the EVO. No issues, and no trans overheating. What's it like to drive? It is "simply amazing". It turns in when you want it to, it is so easy to correct in mid corner. Terry drove it on the new tires briefly and was shocked at how instantaneously it responds to steering inputs. It also never feels like you're in trouble even when the back end comes around, with a quick flick adjustment of the wheel putting the car back on line. Here is a car that has to run full of fuel, is daily driven, can carry 4 adults, and with driver and fuel probably weighs 3800 pounds (we're going to weigh it this week), on full tread street tires, and it turns 1:24s at MSR. That would have put it towards the front third of the qualifying grid for the BMW Club racers, most of whom are on Hoosiers and weigh around 1000 pounds less. We barely have any power mods either - the car is probably 80hp shy of most hard core track driven EVO Xs now. So we're happy with the track times its putting down.

So next up is the Houston SCCA National Tour this coming weekend, switching gears to STU class autocrossing. We're sort of in a jam on tires, unfortunately. Its 5 days before the event and we're not sure if we're getting the new tires or not. Long story, out of our control.

After that event we'll be installing race seats and a harness bar and heading to COBB for an updated "retune". They've played with the MIVEC and are getting more torque - sounds good to us. {OMG} Our new inverted strut AST 5200s should be here this week, too. When we get the LS1 BMW back together (new LS2 based 550hp motor is done and going in soon!) we'll take both cars to MSR and try to do some comparable lap times of 4200s vs 5200s on the EVO.

Thanks for the ride 1st session on Saturday, Brian. This was my first time on track in an Evo X, and I was quite simply amazed.

Brian is a great driver, and the car felt (from my seat-of-the pants) fabulous. I commented to Brian how I wasn't sure what I was feeling was due to the car (all of the computer-controlled diffs) or due to the driving. (Not to take anything away from Brian's excellent driving...)

And, my gosh, we were fast. Passing other cars like they were standing still. Another advanced student, who I rode with for a session to instruct, commented to me later in the day that "when I saw that white Evo appear in my mirrors, I just move over as soon as I can, because he will be on my tail before I know it!"

The car definitely needs seats and harnesses at this level--even with the bolstered Recaros, I was sliding around everywhere. Sounds like they are coming soon.

I can't wait for the day that I will be taking my car up to Dallas, dropping it off at Vorshlag, and saying "set it up for the track". Once my M3 wears out, which may be a while... oh well, that will give the guys time to figure everything out... :)

--michael

Glad you enjoyed the ride, Michael. We're lucky Brian didn't get stuck checking out with some Miata instructor (they might have peed their pants). {thumbup}

Update: New wheels and tires

A little more info on the wheels Brian mentioned above. This is the new track setup we're using for now, until the 285/30/18 Yokohama AD08 comes out. The 285 should fit the front great, but the back wheel might need more backspace.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/3...16_rPfes-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/5...77_TcVzc-S.jpg
L: Stock BBS 18x8.5" and 245mm Advan = 46.8 pounds. R: Enkei 18x10.5" and 265mm AD07 = 48.5 pounds

Front:
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Fronts fit like a dream, no spacer. Lots of clearance inside and out. Wheel alone was 21.4 pounds

Rear:
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Rear fender lips had to be rolled, but it didn't take much.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/5...86_PXwou-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/5...93_kLRjS-S.jpg

We also tried a 18x10 Enkei ET38 wheel and it fit the rear much better, but needed a spacer in front. If we go to a 285mm tire we may get two of these 18x10s for the rear and keep the 10.5" wheels we have now up front. This way they would all fit without spacers.

If you want to try a 18x10.5+15 RPF1 without having to buy one you know where to find me :-)

They have 285 Hoosiers on them too. You *will* need to pull the fender in the rear to get them to clear with the 285's on there, but supposedly 265's clear fine (pulling's not STU legal *cough* Paul *cough*).

What a weekend or maybe an entire week. We had plans to go to the Houston SCCA National Tour and participate in the STU class. That all started going "haywire" a week earlier. We had originally hoped to run the new Yokohama AD08 at the event only to find out at the last minute that wouldn't be possible, but we'd have the tires "next week"....*just* not in time for the Tour. So, we really didn't see the point in buying another set of tires at $1000 for one event, surely our old Dunlops could make one last run right? Surely the well setup Evo could muster a competitive placement even on old tires right?

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At the last minute we decided to go ahead and install a Cobb downpipe and cat "test" pipe. On Thursday I headed over to Cobb Plano to get our STU and TT maps updated before leaving at 4AM Friday for Houston. I'm driving down there when all of the sudden, out of nowhere comes a heavy duty tie down (think bulldozer "come along") into view as I change lanes to exit. The giant BANG and almost immediate left tug of the wheel told me that this was "not good". I pulled on the shoulder to find the sidewall cut into shreds and our new Enkei wheel with a gash in it. Luckily Fair was following me, but of course, we had put 17mm lug nuts and the factory was 21mm. After going to Stett Performance to borrow a socket we had the spare on. Fair drove to the shop, picked up the Dunlops and drove back to Cobb since you can't really dyno on a spare. While out, he mounted a 3 year old Advan AD07 (matching brand/size as the other three tires from our NASA TT setup, except bald and MUCH older) on the Enkei as a "back up" for the Tour, and to run at the Friday practice. This was a tire our friend and former STU competitor Mike Simanyi threw away and sent to us for fitment testing. Basically it was junk. But we wouldn't need it right? I mean we couldn't even drive on the street with it since it was below the tread bars and the others were new, with the AWD you know.

Tuning wrapped up, we loaded the car with the Enkeis on it to practice Friday since the Dunlops were already beyond their usable life. Remember the Enkeis have 265 tires on them, not legal for STU. So the trip down was without incident. We had a trailer tire blowout a week ago so we bought 4 new ones. It was an expensive week. http://vorshlag.com/forums/images/smilies/001_smile.gif More on this later.

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We started the practice on the Advans with the bad Mike Simanyi tire on the left front. I helped Paul Magyar with his STI's setup while Terry and Amy drove the Evo. I drove the Evo and it didn't feel right to me, but obviously pushed with the "bad" AD07 on the front. Still the car was faster than other guys practicing by 0.5s on a 30s course. We went to lunch, came back and mounted the Dunlops. Terry's first run was 0.75s slower than the AD07s. That was a shocker. Well, we weren't going to come all that way to come in last in STU just because we had a last minute snafu on tires. Buying another set at 3PM on Friday having zero testing on Bridgestones or Toyos didn't make sense. We still want to try the Yoks when they are out. We decided to "punt" and sign up for BSP on the 265s. Since the car pushed a little we decided to put the bad tire on the back and we called it a night. Certainly disappointed. We didn't bring a BSP car to the event after all.

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Saturday morning we're ready to go. BSP was in the same run group as STU so at least we could compare times with STU drivers. Terry makes his first run and the car is terrible, unlike any time we've ever run it. It oversteers like it is on ice. I'm not much better wagging the tail out everywhere and taking cones or just DNFs since I was so off track. Terry actually puts a mid 60.6 run down but hits the last cone. The fastest STU driver was a 61.6. OK, so even with the poor handling the car is "in the hunt". We're disappointed, but hey, the car is capable.

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Amy runs after us in Heat 2, Grid B. We drive the car over after asking our competitors if they care. They didn't so we leave. More on this later. http://vorshlag.com/forums/images/smilies/001_smile.gif Amy takes one run and says the car is undriveable. We knew this already, but we were hoping she'd be OK. We decide to swap the bad tire back to the front. Amy makes her second run and gets a clean 61.1 BEATING the boys. Now, most will argue the course was cleaner, conditions were better. Anything NOT to let a Ladies driver beat them. BTW, she did the same at Nationals one year. Gulf Greyhound Park actually gets WORSE as the day goes on. It makes so much gravel there becomes one line and if you deviate, it's over. So we leave Saturday excited that the car seems to be better even if we're basically on 3 tires, obviously slightly bigger tires with a junk tire. The course was reversed Sunday so we swapped the bad one to the right for the Sunday runs. There were really only two left hand turns so we picked the lesser of two evils.

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We start Sunday with Terry's first run. Terry pulls out a 57.2. Most STU cars at this point were in the 59s and high 58s all dirty. Terry had a cone as well. I get in and run a clean 57.5. The best STU car is a 58.0 from Wiggy in an Evo RS. A great run no doubt. Good enough to move him into first place. Terry never could get clean and both of us slowed after this first fast run. We were within 0.5s of it though. Looking at the data the lateral acceleration numbers decreased on every run. We were spraying the tires, but I think the dead AD07 was just getting worse and worse. No biggie, the car is proving it's potential besting STU by 0.5s each day even if not by the same driver.

We move the car as we did the day before to let Amy run. Unfortunately the tires were getting worse and worse. Her lateral numbers were going down. She eeked out a 58.5. Her combined times would have given her 2nd place in STU Open. Her last run looked great but was 2 seconds slower! Again, looking at the data, the car just got worse and worse. We end the day excited. The car is a blast to drive on the track and at the autocross. With the new cat it sounds so mean when it shifts. We love it!

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Vorshlag drivers in other classes did great too. Gerry won E Stock with AST 4100s by 1.8s, ASTs were on a C6 ZO6 that got 3rd behind nationals level drivers. 0.5s out of first. This was his second event on shocks! The ST Civic we help with won overall, Matt Lucas too, and many other strong finishes. Our STU drivers had some cone troubles but had good raw times. Roger Johnson courses are evil, I'll leave it at that. Can't forget Stuart Maxcy and his A Stock win. This AST 5200s will be on the car in a few weeks!

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We pack things up during a break, complete our work assignment then head for Dallas at about 2PM. I check the results from the car and we were DSQ'd today? What the heck? Since we were so far back, we never checked the times. We call Gerry Terranova who checks for us. Apparently we didn't "dot our I's" when we moved the car for Amy's runs and the Impound Chief got us DSQ'd. We were standing 50 yards from the grid. Why didn't anyone ASK us why we moved or where we were? Oh, no, just DSQ them even though the car stayed in grid. For the record, we're aware of the rule of not leaving grid and would never do so, but we also had to get a car ready for the next driver. This happens all the time at Nationals where you have to DRIVE distances to other spots not even staying in the same area. We were just baffled at a Tour that someone would assume the worst. Whatever, we're calling today to argue the case and frankly discuss other concerns we had at the event.

We get into the heart of South Houston (a lovely place btw) and I hear a strange noise from the trailer. Terry looks back and smoke is bellowing out from the passenger side fender. Great! A blowout on a new tire? Amy as calm and collected as she always is pulls off the highway into a Bail Bonds parking lot. You get the picture where we are? Terry and I inspect the trailer to find the leaf spring broken (and missing parts) on the rear axle. The tire was lodged in the fender which made for the smoke. We call in the soldiers.

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Before you know it, we have an army of people surrounding us which is good in this part of town. Jason McCall, Paul Magyar, Matt Lucas, Chris Ledbetter, Kurt Janish (Mr. Tools), Greg Piper show up along with Gerry Terranova. It was a party in South H! Terry and Jason run to Northern Tools and buy a leaf spring and new hardware. Kurt, me and everyone else work at breaking all the rusted bolts off. We broke one bolt so Terry and Gerry had to run back to the store. We had everything ready to go once they got back and we were off again. Only a two hour delay. Thanks again for everyone and their help. I wasn't too excited about leaving the Evo to go get parts. It definitely would have been missing wheels at a minimum. http://vorshlag.com/forums/images/smilies/001_smile.gif

We made it back in one piece around 10PM, a LONG weekend for sure. While we didn't get to compete in STU we're pretty happy with the car. It really handles well. I can't wait to see what it does four equal, on current generation ST tires. Should be interesting!

One of my runs from the Tour. The video camera mount is on the roof but is a little flimsy so there's some "shake" to it - the car isn't moving around, the vidcam and mount is.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/5...48_3zjHB-L.jpg

Cheers,

Looks good

Lots of little updates for the EVO lately, even though we've been working mostly on final assembly of the new 550hp LS2 motor for our BMW E36. We added some new shocks last week - Brian installed inverted AST 5200s last Thursday - and we added our first bit of bling (headlight covers). We also got a replacement 265mm AD07 tire for the one that blew out the day before the Houston Tour (the last remnants of tread on the "old" 265 we had thrown on for that event were literally crumbling!)

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XPEL yellow headlight covers. Hopefully the distinctive yellow lighting will help clear away traffic at TT events

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L: remote reservoirs are temporarily mounted to the strut brace. R: AST 5200 front strut for EVO X

The AST 4200 shocks came off, were cleaned up, and immediately shipped out to Edmunds.com for use on their EVO X GSR track car project, in which they hope to beat a Nissan GTR on track. They've got a good, proven setup in their hands that should do just that!

After our NASA @ TWS weekend plans were rained out (that event saw "wrath of god" rains on Saturday - we made the right choice!), Amy and I decided to enter the local SCCA autocross event in the EVO (Pennington Field, April 19, 2009). And we went full boat lazy: packed up the helmets and camera gear and just drove out there on the Yokohamas. Sometimes, very rarely, I do like racing in Street Touring. :cool:

Event Picture Gallery: here

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We're still (still) waiting on our next set of 245mm ST tires so we ran on the 265mm Yokohama AD07s. These are the full tread track tires Brian has been running at NASA Time Trials and other DEs, as well as what we ran at the Houston Tour. Since they are wider than the STU class max of 245mm we ran in BSP, naturally. Not exactly the hot ticket for that class but we mostly went to test the new AST 5200s, and of course to compare with the local STU times.

We got to the site, slapped on the "BSP" magnetics, and pulled into the tech line. After working first heat announcing I got the car to grid. Amy and I ran in heat 2, but she ran in the pax factored "Womens" class (lets her run one class but jump around in cars all year if she wants) but I ran in BSP. I was running in the "X" Pro class, which is also Pax factored, but was getting killed by all of the National Champions in Mod cars that run this class (which tend to do VERY well on the ~30 second/smallish courses our region favors at some sites). Running BSP also gave me a slightly better chance at winning $50 per event from Don Herring Mitsubishi (this local dealership pays $50 per class win and $500 for an annual class win in any Mitsubishi), too.

So first run Amy had some trouble remembering the course and DNF'd in a very tight offset at the finish. Checked tire pressures (32F/30R) and I made a run with a passenger. STU had run in heat one and finished with a 36.7 as the fastest run. My first run, with some herky jerkiness at the rear, was a 35.6 so I was off to a good start. The shock settings were a total guess with this new 5200 set-up, so I dropped compression in front & rebound in rear and it settled down a good bit out back. I managed to clock off 4 clean runs with my fastest on my 3rd being a 35.2 (video shown below).

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on-car video from my 3rd run. The vidcam roof mount is still terrible - its the mount shaking, not the car

The car felt incredible - immediate turn-in, super crisp transitions, great mid-corner grip, staggering stopping power, and incredible corner exit acceleration. The SST trans was working its magic in S-Sport mode again, performing perfect 1st-2nd-3rd upshifts coming out of each tight turn around. There was a point right after the start where the speeds dictated an upshift mid corner from 1st to 2nd - which was seamless, didn't unsettle the car, and forward acceleration never ceased. This transmission is the hottest thing since sliced bread. {thumbup}

Amy had some minor driving troubles - a first run DNF, 2 coned runs, and she caught her hand in the paddle shifter on her 4th run causing some sideways antics - and finished the day uncharacteristically off pace. She's usually right there with me, or beating my times.

Results: http://www.autocross.com/tr/modules/...ndex.php?id=81

My 3rd and 4th runs felt great but we're still lacking about 1/2 second of performance for STU. Using the STU pax I was only 9th out of 145 cars, and that's not nearly good enough. Using the BSP pax I was way down in 27th, yuck. The 245mm tires will change things, but we suspect these full tread 265mm AD07s won't be any better than modern ST rubber in 245mm and shaved under 5/32". We have got to get the final STU wheels and tires in our hands soon to get some much needed testing underway - its pretty damn late in the season to be picking tires, but some of the new ones we want to test still aren't out yet in the sizes we need.

So up next we have the following potential upgrades:

• The latest and greatest in ST approved 245mm tires (Toyo, Bridgestone, or Yokohama - we don't know yet)
• Lighter 18x9.5" wheels
• Sparco harness bar and 6 point harness
• Lighter fixed back racing seats
• Possibly a set of lighter front brakes
• Much more setup testing at an upcoming Vorshlag Test-N-Tune practice event

Brian and I wouldn't mind running 285mm Hoosiers on this thing and moving to BSP for good, but that doesn't really fit with the original multi-purpose street/track/autocross plan for this car, as full-tilt Street Prepared prep does push a car a bit beyond the streetable daily driver (unlimited boost, unlimited EFI/intake, no emissions). I hope we're not too disappointed with the grip from the 245mm ST tires when we get them on here. :confused: